Crappy Letter Stamping

[Tree Reaper]

Thanks Cheryl.

Yes, it's saddle tan.

Made for a friend of mine that bought a two seat aircraft kit.

The stitching was done on my new cowboy, that was a real trial because I had to turn the coaster with every new stitch but it came out ok.

I could have went a little larger with the emblem but he wasn't expecting it and really liked it.

The coaster was lined with rust suede on the back side.

Layout for the lettering took awhile to get the proper spacing but you just can't cut corners if you want it to look good.

Kevin.

[hidepounder]

Letter stamps can definitely be challenging some times, but I discovered a terrific way to deal with them. That is, don't use them! I used to use them too until I realized how amaturish they made my work look. Hand cut lettering ALWAYS looks better and with computers there is no reason to try to draw letters by hand. Print them out and tool them....you'll be amazed at how much better your work will look!

Bobby

[Sylvia]

I discovered a terrific way to deal with them. That is, don't use them! I used to use them too until I realized how amaturish they made my work look. Print them out and tool them....you'll be amazed at how much better your work will look!

Bobby

I agree 100%. But I don't even print them out... I just put clear plastic over my monitor and trace around the font. I like the clear because I can see exactly where I'm putting the letters on the leather.

[Double U Leather]

I took Bob's advice on lettering quite a while back, and it completely changed the finished look on lettered items. On very rare occasions, I have still had to use the stamps, but every time I hate them. My vote is for not using them if at all possible.

[Tree Reaper]

Do you have any examples?

[Double U Leather]

Here's a few examples of things I've done with fonts off the computer. The checkbooks were small enough I had to use stamps for some of the letters, but did a font on the word champion.

[chancey77]

HERE YOU GO A JPEG EXAMPLE OF SOMETHING YOU CAN EASILY DO BY HAND.

Edited April 2, 2012 by chancey77

[Tree Reaper]

I have photo express I can use for making words but how do you get them to follow the curve on the coaster?

Are the letters put on individually or can you make the word and then use a program to curve it?

Not sure if 1/2 inch letters would look decent carved then beveled.

1" or larger would be easier to work with but won't work on a coaster.

Edited April 2, 2012 by Tree Reaper

[Stewart]

Do you have any examples?

Bad example of craftsmanship ,but this is how i do it.

Cheaper than stamps and tooling styles give the personal uniqueness

[HellfireJack]

You can use inkscape to put words on any path.. be it a curve or flowing wavy lines, whatever. Naturally, you'll have to have whatever font installed on you computer.

You just make the curve using the circle tool or bezier tool and then type the text out near by then, highlight both and click the text to path option in the text drop down. You can then highlight just the curve and change it's opacity to zero. You can also still edit the curve and change it's size and if you've used the bezier tool you can still change the curve itself and the text will follow.

Inkscape has changed a few times for where things are so here's a to-do/manual on how to put text on a path if my rambling semi-coherent instructions don't help you.

http://tavmjong.free.fr/INKSCAPE/MANUAL/html/Text-Path.html